Text Size

-

+

reset

That mobility actually plays an underappreciated role in health and well-being — and mayors and state officials are beginning to make it part of how they think about infrastructure spending. They are making the case that planning and building ahead for the rapidly aging population should be a big consideration as they divvy up their state budgets.

It was one of the themes raised at the U.S. Conference of Mayors winter meeting this month in Washington. And some mayors are thinking about ways of encouraging seniors to move from the suburbs back to the city.

That way, they can take advantage of the infrastructure in place and build from that.

“The more we can do to attract baby boomers to the heart of the city, the better off our city will be,” Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said at the conference, which included a panel on this topic.

By 2050, America’s population of people older than 65 will exceed 88 million — more than double that population in 2010, according to the Administration on Aging.

Policies that help older people “age in place” without relocating or moving into facilities like nursing homes are key to keeping an aging population connected — even after they give up their car keys — health advocates say. But they need to be mobile. An 85-year-old who can’t get transportation to the doctor to control her five chronic diseases, for instance, is at risk of ending up in an ambulance instead. And there are social and emotional consequences, as well — which in turn affect health.

“The whole deal with healthy aging is to stay connected and stay involved, and the enemy of healthy aging is social isolation,” Ruth Finkelstein, senior vice president for policy and planning at The New York Academy of Medicine, told the panel.

Research suggests that the “single most important predictor” of life expectancy in the U.S. is a rich social network and social engagement, Finkelstein told POLITICO.